Long, long road for infrastructure

The road to passing Speaker John Boehner’s energy and infrastructure bill looks to be as bumpy as the highways it’s trying to fix.

GOP leaders insist they will bring their energy-expanding and road-building plan to the floor this month, but it’s clear they have a ways to go before uniting the Republican Conference. And thanks to controversial additions like oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Keystone XL pipeline, Democrats won’t be any help.

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In short, the shiny, job-creating object of the GOP’s first-quarter agenda is facing an uphill battle.

“Two-thirds of every dollar collected in the user fee known as gas tax … two-thirds goes to something other than roads and bridges,” said Iowa Rep. Steve King, who thinks too much money goes to mass transit.

“We need to make sure the way they allocate and the formulas they use don’t negatively impact a robust investment in infrastructure,” Fitzpatrick said. “For a district like I represent … Philadelphia and suburban Philadelphia, access to viable transportation that’s affordable is important.”

Veteran Midwestern Republicans — like Reps. Tim Johnson (Ill.) and Tom Petri (Wis.) — are peeved that the government is no longer funding bike paths.

“I support biking. I’ve been a big supporter for that, so obviously that’s not helpful,” Johnson said. “I’m a strong supporter for biking and obviously that vote doesn’t make me happy.”

In reality, most of the House Republican Conference is only beginning to look at the 846-page behemoth, which is going through a cavalcade of markups in several committees this week, including Transportation and Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and Ways and Means. In interviews with more than a dozen lawmakers, most of them said their staffs were still reviewing the bill. It’s meant to hit the floor in two weeks, and leadership expects to begin formal whipping next week.

“I’m personally still studying it,” said House Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling of Texas, the No. 4 GOP lawmaker. “There are a number of good reforms in there, there are a lot of legitimate concerns as well. I’m not trying to dodge your question but a lot of us are just now analyzing it. I was one of eight people who voted against the last highway bill.”

Behind closed doors, there have been a slew of questions about the legislation. The Republican Study Committee’s meeting Wednesday was dominated by discussion about the funding offsets for the bill, which includes expanded oil-drilling leases in ANWR and off both coasts. There are also those who question the gas tax’s efficiency in funding road-building, since cars are consuming less fuel.